(Newser)
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China has for the first time admitted holding an American prisoner from the Korean War on its soil, AP reports. The Vermont man, just 18 when he was captured, died in China and was buried there, officials said. China authorities, who said the prisoner was mentally ill, had previously insisted no American POWs were taken from North Korea.

The move raises hopes that Chinese records can now shed light on the fate of other Americans. More than 8,000 US soldiers are still classified as missing in action from the 1950-53 war. The city where the soldier died, hundreds of miles from the Korean border, has been cited in intelligence reports as the location of prisons full of POWs.